【"I'd never have the courage to ask a question like that."】
This is a line from the hero Elio (Timothy Chalamet) in the movie Call Me By Your Name. It's pouring rain outside as he says this, and he sits on the sofa with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg) listening to his mother (Amira Casa) read the 16th-century French novel, "Seven Days." My mother read a story about a knight admiring the princess: the knight and the princess grew up together and had a deep friendship. The knight loved the princess very much, but she was not sure whether the princess liked herself too. So one day, the knight couldn't hold it any longer, so he ran to the princess and asked the princess bluntly, "Is it better to speak or to die?".
"Should I tell you what's on my mind, or should I die?" 17-year-old Elio felt like he was talking about his current inner troubles when he heard this sentence. His father, who teaches at the university, invites a teacher every summer. Students come home to revise manuscripts and do academic research for six weeks. This year's big American boy, Oliver (Amy Hammer), somehow captured Elio's heart. Since we had breakfast the day after Oliver arrived, his every move gradually awakened Elio's ignorant consciousness---this was the first time Elio felt a heartbeat, the first time he fell in love with a person. He had the urge to try, but he was extremely hesitant. So after hearing this story, he said silently, "But I don't even have the courage to ask such a question."
That was the saddest scene in the whole movie for me.
The story told in the movie is actually simple, but the complicated thing is the dilemma and the confused young man's mind. The young Elio is really a smart boy: born in a Jewish family whose parents are university professors, he has read poetry and books, can switch between French, Italian and English, and can play the piano and guitar well. But when love came, his intelligence disappeared without a trace, whether to tangle or tangle, whether to understand or not.
He looks exactly like when we first fell in love.
In front of Oliver, he was sensitive and inferior. He felt that Oliver was much better than himself, and he definitely didn't like him. The cute boy would make Oliver angry while playing Bach in various variations, while lying on the bed and writing "I don't think he likes me" in a small notebook. At that moment, I could even immediately think of the classmate I liked in middle school but didn't dare to confess and could only keep looking for trouble. I even think back to what I said when I first confessed to someone. The piano flirting scene in the movie is really funny: Elio shows himself unabashedly in front of Oliver, easily adapting Bach twice. Then he obediently played the original song to Oliver again, blushing and saying with a heartbeat that the young Bach wrote it for his brother.
(Note: Elio plays "Capriccio on the Departure of His Beloved Brother." written by Bach at the age of 17.)
Elio's secret love is like the sea in summer, and the waves are under the calm. Every look, movement, expression, and language of Oliver was captured by him, making him happy and sad at the same time. So he'd be so nervous when Oliver pressed his shoulders that he resisted walking away, and he'd sneak into Oliver's room to find the man's scent in Oliver's swimming trunks and sheets. He would sit by the pool in a daze and be asked by Oliver what he was thinking. He snickered happily, and then quickly pretended to be serious and said, this is a personal matter, why should I tell you.
This kind of emotion reminds me of Eileen Chang easily. She wrote about the feeling that when she loves someone, she will be "deep in the dust" -- humility, sensitivity, and even fear. At the beginning of the film, when the camera starts from Elio's point of view, we see that it only stops at the hexagram on Oliver's chest again and again, or looks up at Oliver, until the two face each other in the lake. What I want to mention here is that Elio's confession and the confrontation between the two in the lake were so beautiful: the two stood at opposite ends of the monument in the empty square. When Elio confessed, his voice was diluted like the wind, and the audience immediately became like an eavesdropper. Spying on the secret between the two. After the confession, neither of them had any emotional waves, Oliver just fell into deep thought after saying "We can't talk about this kind of thing". It seems that for Oliver, all this is expected, what should be entangled will always be entangled, and what should happen can't be avoided. Elio finally plucked up the courage to stare at Oliver silently, "You're embarrassing me like this," Oliver said. Then he kissed Elio anyway, and that kiss ended Elio's lonely crush like a watershed.
【"Parce que c'etait lui, parce que c'etait moi. (Because it was him, because it was me.)"】
This sentence comes from the French thinker Montaigne, which was mentioned by the father when he finally told his son. Oliver had left them by then, and Elio was heartbroken like a brokenhearted one. My father quoted Montaigne as saying that what happened between you two was caused by cleverness, but it had nothing to do with cleverness. It is fate and inevitable that two people can meet each other and develop a relationship together - this must be the result of mutual attraction between two people, not just one of them is outstanding or attractive. Father said, Oliver met you in his prime, and you met him in your prime, and the two of you complement each other.
In fact, this principle is true in any relationship. A truly beautiful relationship between two people must be mutual giving, equality and complementarity. Because of understanding, they appreciate and inspire each other. Even if this relationship does not bear fruit in the end, it is a precious life experience. However, the interaction between people is itself a big wave, often because too many people have experienced and too little sincerity. In life, this kind of simple and pure love, which is broken at one point, and evenly matched, is really rare. That's why my father said, you have sadness and pain now, don't let it disappear, let alone those who have have been happy. What a waste not to feel in order not to feel it.
Love will come to an end, but not feelings, not the feelings you once had.
"Because that was you, because that was me." This sentence seems to echo the title of the film endlessly - "Please call me by your name", which is what Oliver told Elio, and he said, "I'll call you by my name too". You can call each other by your own name. You have me, and I have you. This is the so-called complete and thorough intimacy.
If you have read the novel, you will know that that summer, that relationship, that intimacy, became the most difficult experience in Elio's life.
Those six weeks of memories were all they had.
The language of Italian director Luca Guadagnino's films is so delicate that only the second or third time you can see the original shots that capture every eye contact and every facial expression change between the characters. is subtle and even accurate. To give two impressive details: the first is that when Oliver explained that the origin of the word apricot can be traced back to the Latin corresponding word for precocious (precocious/premature), he seemed to inadvertently quickly read A glance at Elio. The second time was at the end of the story. Elio's parents heard the news of Oliver's engagement on the phone. After the two happily said congratulations and put down the phone, they exchanged a meaningful look. There are many other details like this, all of which are wonderful and worthy of repeated aftertaste.
Delicate and precise performance, especially Timothy's last four-minute facial close-up long shot, the actor's skill is naturally indispensable, but also thanks to the director's wayward shooting method --- I watched the interview of Timothy and Amy earlier It turns out that the film was shot in the order of the script. You must know that in the film industry, it is very rare to shoot in script sequence, because shooting in that way will mean repeated scene demolition, set-up, and a lot of unnecessary waiting, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. However, according to the sequence of the script, the actors will have the most natural and smoothest tacit understanding and accumulation of feelings. Timothy and Amy deserve all the praise for their performances in the movie. Timothy, in particular, has been nominated for numerous Oscar outposts, including the Golden Globe Award. At the age of 22, it is inevitable that he will be nominated for an Oscar at the beginning of the year.
This is a very "European" movie---a lazy atmosphere, extremely real and delicate life triviality, dreamlike petty bourgeoisie temperament, and flowing fermented love. It shows us the universality of love in a way that is not hysterical, unassuming, comfortable and sincere. There is no social hatred, family opposition, or the pain of sexual identity in the whole story. After all, those have nothing to do with love itself. Classical piano music, sunshine and sweat, the two went from guessing each other's puzzles to falling in love with each other. Such a beautiful summer is like a dazed dream. Even if you wake up from the dream and feel lost, it is the loss brought about by love itself, and it is a part of love.
In this sense, I don't think "Call Me By Your Name" is "comparable to "Brokeback Mountain". It goes beyond Brokeback Mountain.
"But I don't even have the courage to ask such a question." If 17-year-old Elio didn't pluck up the courage to tell Oliver in front of the monument, "But you don't know, I don't know anything about what really matters." What a pity. There may be a hundred moments in this movie that can evoke your feelings about first love, heartbeat, summer, and green memories, but what makes me even more unforgettable is the last moment at the end, Elio is full of tears but smiling in front of the fire The expression on his face --- that's why he is fortunate that he has the courage to love love itself without fear.
Gone is eternity, the most precious thing is to have.
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